I’d heard of Byron Bay quite a few times. I’m not really sure what struck it out to me as a “must stop at” location on my East Coast Road Trip, but it was a given. I even went so far as to make it a definite over night stop, and somewhere I wanted to Read more about Cheeky Monkeys – The Party Town of Byron Bay, Australia[…]
The 10th June 2010 came round rather quick. Aged 30 and living in the land under down under (Tasmania) I was attempting to mix my working life with my lifelong hobby – watching football, the greatest game on planet earth. It was going to be tricky. In the run up to the World Cup Read more about World Cup Opening Match at Wrest Point, Hobart[…]
Well the road trip finally began, and I have to say I believe it began at Coles Beach in Devonport. That was where I stayed manys a night sleeping in my car while living in Tasmania. From here in June 2010, I left behind Tasmania on a four state road trip north to Queensland. 5 Read more about Australian Road Trip Part 1: Leaving Coles Beach, Devonport, Tasmania[…]
We didn’t stop at this remote location on our railway through the Tasmanian wilderness. It was once a train stop known as Campspur, but it’s no longer a stop. There is a platform there but no station. Steel house structures remain to show where the “campsite” and buildings (rather huts) once were. What Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Six – Campspur[…]
Art is not something I particularly dig to be honest. I hardly ever visit art galleries and do find quite a lot of paintings over-rated, and some forms of art totally irrelevant and actually stupid, rather than clever. Which is why Sheffield came as a particular surprise. Growing up in Northern Ireland you really Read more about A Town Of Murals: Touring Sheffield, Tasmania, Australia[…]
Once you’ve worked in “weeding” in your life, I would have to say that most other jobs seem easy. I didn’t plan to do weeding, but while employed by Work Direct (A harvest and labouring work agency in Devonport, Tasmania) I told them I would do any job, and this often meant getting phone calls Read more about Weeding in Wesley Vale and Bishopsbourne[…]
I had never heard of the Carlyle Hotel, or even the district of Moonah, some kind of northern suburb of Hobart, I believe. It was time to hold the closest ever meeting to the South Pole for any Northern Ireland Supporters Club in history. And thanks to Hobart based, Andy Power, the venue was sorted, Read more about Closest Ever NISC Meeting To The South Pole[…]
So from our peak at Rinadeena, it was time to head downhill from the mines and into an area, barely a village named Dubbil Barril, note the strange spelling as opposed to Double Barrel. The rainforest route on the way down was totally amazing, we past gorges. We must have gone Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Five – Cow Dairy at Dubbil Barril[…]
WEST COAST WILDERNESS RAILWAY PART FOUR – LUNCH AT RINADEENA (RAINDROP) So I left behind the remote mining village of Lynchford, for this lifetime at least. This is where the train tracks got steeper and became a railway incline, as part of the famous “rack and pinion” system. I had already been on the Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Four – Lunch At Rinadeena (Raindrop)[…]
It’s truly kicking in – World Cup Fever. The passion that I first had back in June 1986 is back. I was too young to remember the 1982 World Cup sadly. Which is a shame because Northern Ireland won the group, and beat host nation Spain. However by 1986, I was a big Norman Whiteside Read more about World Cup Fever in the Land Down Under: Australia, June 2010[…]